S. Mark Courtney: an experiment of one

AMAA Journal, Spring, 2007 by Jeff Venables

S. Mark Courtney has not missed a day of running since December 19, 1979. On May 6, he'll reach 10,000 consecutive days. And having never been halted by a major injury, sheer boredom, or an unworkable scheduling conflict, this 28-year experiment of one has shown dividends: Mark has won five marathons, including placing first in his age group in the 2006 Boston Marathon and in the 2006 Disney Marathon.

This isn't to say Mark's career hasn't offered unworkable scheduling conflicts; he runs the race-timing company known as Runner's High Road Race Timing and Computer Services, which, operating out of Western Pennsylvania, provides chip timing and race management services to over 260 races nationwide.

Courtney, who is now 50, began running in 1978. "I read Ken Cooper's book and decided to give it a try," he says. Almost immediately, he set the goal of running the Boston Marathon before turning 40. At that time Mark also set his sights on obtaining his pilot's license by 40. While the latter goal eluded him, he wound up completing the Boston Marathon some 17 times by age 40.

Courtney averages about seven and a half miles daily, with a peak in mileage in 1983, when he ran 10 miles per day. He has run over 10,000 miles in races alone. His marathon PR is 2:28:48, which he achieved in the 1990 Chicago Marathon, where at age 34 he finished 8th among Americans. He's run over 130 marathons, including 27 Boston marathons in a row. If some of the more obscure statistics seem surprisingly available, it's because Courtney's other love appears to be using technology to sort information, which is something he's been doing with his race timing services company since 1982.

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It's not easy to run with the skill and dedication Courtney exhibits--especially when each weekend, as other runners toe the starting line, he remains busy overseeing every aspect of chip timing, data entry, and Internet results posting that races of every distance, size, and geographic region have come to expect of Runner's High. As a consequence, Courtney often finds himself registered in smaller, midweek events. His Fridays lean toward the stressful, to say the least, as he and his wife, Debbie, whom he married in 1997, prepare for another weekend of events.

If race directors worry and fret going into their races, they at least get to relax after the event gets underway and, hopefully, proceeds without a hitch. For Mark, this stress never ends, an experience akin to working in an emergency room, perhaps. Though they certainly know otherwise, each new ER admittee feels like this is the first and only emergency of the day. To medical staff, of course, it is but one more unfortunate case in a never-ending line of such events.

Mark still runs an average of 40 races a year, down from a peak of around 70, when life was simpler and his weekends were not consumed with managing other people's racing experience. His most recent venture finds him providing the customized stickers that are increasingly popular on ChampionChips in road races that want to offer runners a souvenir. The company's success and expansion into other areas like the stickers and even course certification are far from a burden to Mark, who readily acknowledges that he has pulled off the American Dream: to build a career in the world you know and love best.

Yet since 1980, Courtney has also been a physician's assistant at Family Healthcare Partners in Grove City, PA. He intends to soon phase out this other life, which, as his business grows, he says accounts for a steadily decreasing percentage of his income. Nevertheless, the medical field has been good to him, and he's remained within it longer than he imagined he would. Courtney attended Mercer High School in Western Pennsylvania, where he ran track to stay in shape for basketball. It's easy to forget that in the early 1970s, distance running had yet to embed itself in the national zeitgeist. Neither had the occupational choice of physician's assistant, which due to changes in healthcare over the years, is now widespread. It was while attending Alderon-Broaddus College in West Virginia that Courtney discovered both.

"At that time the PA school was undergrad," he says. "It was one of the only programs that would give you a four-year degree and your certification as a physician's assistant." He received a BS in Medical Science in 1978. "I was looking for something in medicine that wasn't going to totally consume my time, because I had a lot of other interests. I thought, I'll try it and see how it works out, and here I am 30 years later."

The 10,000th consecutive running day that Mark will enjoy in May is only a third of the reason the month is special to him. Mark's daughter Kaitlyn turns four in May, and he and Debbie will celebrate their 10-year anniversary that month as well. A registered nurse similarly dedicated to Runner's High Road Race Timing and Computer Services, Debbie Courtney has 13 consecutive Boston Marathons under her belt.